West Ham Whispers

Will West Ham seriously part ways with one of the club’s star players?

|
Image for Will West Ham seriously part ways with one of the club’s star players?

Stewart Downing

For the past few days many media outlets have linked Stewart Downing with a move away from West Ham, back to one of the three main clubs in the North East. Particularly in the last 48 hours, Middlesbrough have supposedly offered a large fee to bring the playmaker back to the Riverside, despite the fact that West Ham had previously stated that Downing is not for sale.

Boro chairman Steve Gibson appears determined to get his man but should West Ham consider the offer, rumoured to be around £8million by some, it could lead to the Hammers investing that money in other areas of the squad that needs improving.

Stewart Downing was arguably our best player in the first half of last season, creating more chances than most players in the league, and he was pin-pointed by many pundits as the catalyst of our success. His transformation from a winger to a number 10 was probably the best decision Sam Allardyce made during his tenure at West Ham.

His form took a negative turn post-Christmas as did the entire squad and Allardyce putting him back on the wing didn’t really help him. Downing clearly has the quality to be a part of our first team and if Bilic sees a fit for him then I think Middlesbrough, and other clubs such as Sunderland and Leicester, both of whom have been linked strongly with Stewart, should explore different options.

Personally I am a fan of Downing and with our gruelling season on the horizon I think there is definitely a place for him in our squad. However, recently, reliable sources close to the club such as ExWHUemployee have stated that the Hammers are interested in Yohan Cabaye however they feel that a £10million price is quite high for a 29 year old.

If Downing was to be sold this would free up funds for Cabaye. Yohan is in my opinion the best player we have been linked with so far and if there is a possibility that we can sign him, we should.

Share this article

7 comments

  • Daniel Langer says:

    Downing is my favorite player and I’ve been supporting west ham all my life (which isn’t very long, 17years) I know he’d most likely be a squad rotation player but he’d be a solid one. He would push for first team action and in cups often play. We should sell someone a long the lines of nolan and poyet to get yohan. Also, I would love to see Austin in a west ham kit.

    • TK says:

      Sell Poyet?? Are you for real?

    • Chris says:

      You must be mad if you would prefer to keep Downing and sell Poyet! We need to start pushing on with a young squad. I agree that Nolan can go, but if we were to get a decent sum for Downing he can go as well, because it will free up some cash for better players

  • Dale from Boro says:

    There’s a lot of talk up here from people that know Stewart, that he himself wants to come back to Middlesbrough. Thats pretty much the only reason the deal is likely to go through. His family still live in the middle of the town and his close friends seem to be suggesting it’s pretty much a done deal between him and the club, but the structuring of the deal 5-6million, needs working out to get us past the championship fairplay rule. Supposedly Peter Kenyon is handling that for us.

  • pete thomas says:

    we get a good player and wont to sell him why ?

    • TK says:

      Because he is almost 31 and they are offering us 3mil more than what we paid for him originally.

  • Jeff Ives says:

    £8m? Bite their hand off for it! Far too milky for this level. All the opponents know it and know how to get to him.
    Players need courage as well as talent. Wouldn’t want him in my trench!

Comments are closed.